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Melromarc
The Kingdom of Melromarc is the main antagonistic faction in the first four volumes of The Rising of the Shield Hero light novel series, the first saga of its original web story and Episode 1 to 21 of its anime series. Named for the royal family that rules it, this was the country that the Four Legendary Heroes were summoned to. The Kingdom of Melromarc summoned four teenagers from alternative worlds to become the Four Legendary Heroes. Unfortunately, the present royals and church held a great grudge against the Shield Hero. Due to the history of the Shield Hero being a protector to the Demi-Humans as well as the woeful reign and manipulation from Malty Melromarc, it's First Princess, far from becoming an ally the Kingdom quickly became an enemy of the new Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani. This initially made Naofumi's life exceptionally difficult. However, there were still friendly allies to Naofumi in the kingdom, whether they were citizens or aristocrats. History and Structure The Kingdom of Melromarc is one of several nations that exist in Raphtalia's World, where most of the story takes place. As the name suggests it is ruled by the Melromarc family, and unlike most of the other countries is matriarchal. As such, the Queen is the true ruler of Melromarc and holds absolute power over the King. Beneath them in the hierarchy, are the nobles and beneath that the ordinary citizens. The Church also holds a high position in the country, possessing its own military and spy network. Melromarc is monotheistic believing in only one God, and a modified version of the Cardinal Heroes Faith. Melromarc was founded several hundred years before the start of the series. Its foundation had close ties to the Church of the Three Heroes. It was created by human supremacists who refused to acknowledge the demi-humans, who together with the original Bow and Shield Heroes came to the land from another world, as equals. Over time, the new nation became the arch-rival of the demi-humans main nation of Siltvelt. Owing to this original prejudice and the Churches teachings, demi-humans and beast-men are viewed as inferior beings and most of those present in Melromarc, are slaves. Due to the latter's tampering of historical records, Melromarc also has a negative opinion of the Shield Hero, whose previous wielder was noted for their kindness towards demi-humans. Role in the Series Prior to the Series Queen Mirellia Q. Melromarc, a politically shrewd and just ruler, does not share in ideology or prejudice found in many of her subjects. She is married to King Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, a veteran soldier from Melromarc's previous war with Siltvelt. The couple has two daughters, Princesses Malty S. Melromarc and Melty Q. Melromarc. Due to Malty's bad reputation amongst the citizens and her deplorable nature, the Queen overlooked her and elected Melty as her heir. Owing to some unspecified political tensions, the Queen left Melromarc in order to negotiate a peaceful resolution with the other leaders. Taking her daughter and heir, Melty Q. Melromarc with her, the Queen initially gave absolute authority to her right-hand man, Lord Seaetto, Eclair's father, leaving him in charge of governing the nation. Unfortunately, whilst Mirellia was away, the First Wave of Catastrophe struck, during which Lord Seaetto was killed. By default, all of the power then passed to her husband. As with every other nation in the world, the Waves ravaged Melromarc. One of the most heavily affected regions was a demi-human settlement, established under the Queen's protection as a means to create peace with Siltvelt. To make matters worse for the villagers, once the wave was over, soldiers of Melromarc attacked them. Most of the adults were killed, whilst the children and few other survivors were sold into slavery. It is implied that the attack was initiated by Idol Rabier, a Melromarc noble noted for his staunch belief in the Three Heroes faith and his deep hatred of Demi-Humans. Whilst it is not known if King Aultcray had any prior knowledge of the attack, he did nothing about it. With the Waves once again threatening the world, the rulers of the various nations knew that the time had come to once again summon the Cardinal Heroes. With Queen Mirellia's backing, they agreed to summon one hero and decided that Melromarc would be the last one to summon a hero. However, when they tried the summoning spell it did not work. This was because King Aultcray, working together with his manipulative eldest daughter and the Church of the Three Heroes, had summoned all four heroes to Melromarc to fight for the waves. This rash decision led to uproar and resulted in further tension on the international community. Upon hearing the news, Queen Mirrelia was horrified. All of her hard work had been undone in a single stroke, forcing her to remain away from Melromarc in order to further negotiate with the other countries. To relieve some tension, the Queen would take out much of her frustration on portraits of her husband and daughter. To make matters worse, however, the Kings summoning of the Four Heroes had a second much more sinister intention, which would only lead to further problems for the Queen. Volume 1 Working together with his daughter Malty, King Aultcray, who had a personal vendetta against demi-humans framed the Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani, for a crime he did not commit. This false claim turned all of the other heroes and the nation at large against the Shield Hero. Now viewed as a perverted criminal, the Shield Hero was thrown out onto the streets, effectively an outcast within Melromarc. As a result of Malty's actions, Naofumi had no money, armour, equipment or support from the monarchy or citizens. As the citizens of Melromarc still needed Naofumi to fight the waves, they did not physically harm him. Even so, Naofumi was subjected to unfair treatment wherever he went. Ordinary citizens avoided him, very few people were willing to talk to him and venomous/hateful looks were shot in his directions. Owing to the accusations, nobody would partner up with him or address Naofumi by name, simply referring to him as The Shield Hero, Rapist, Criminal and other such titles. Naofumi's initial pleas of innocence went unheard. Eventually realising that nobody in Melromarc (with the exception of Erhard the blacksmith) was willing to listen or give him a chance, the Shield Hero quickly became a cynical and spiteful person. Now completely distrustful and hostile towards the vindictive citizens of Melromarc, Naofumi utilised underhanded tactics to ensure some small measure of fair treatment. When a merchant tried to swindle him, Naofumi used monsters to threaten the man, leaving everyone even more fearful of him. After this encounter with the merchant, the ordinary citizens tended to ignore Naofumi. Viewing the Shield Hero as evil, citizens and aristocrats alike agreed that the Shield Hero was the weakest of the Cardinal Heroes. Even so, Naofumi's bad situation was not enough for the King, Malty or Church of the Three Heroes. At a celebration following the Second Wave, Princess Malty tricked The Spear Hero, Motoyasu Kitamura into challenging the Shield Hero to a duel. The real purpose of this fight was to take Naofumi's companion, the demi-human tanuki girl Raphtalia (a slave) away from him, leaving the Shield Hero alone once again without any support. King Aultcray forced Naofumi to fight when he would not comply, with the attending aristocrats gleefully anticipating a one-sided duel in the Spear Heroes favor. Although Naofumi initially managed to hold his own, the crown cheated illegally ensuring Motoyasu's victory. Naofumi was left fuming when the audience played along and began to insult him. Upon discovering Malty's true identity as King Aultcray's daughter, Naofumi realized that he had been set up from the start. With that he vowed to topple the Kingdom, unknowingly tapping into the power of its curse series. However, it was at this moment, when the Shield Hero reached his lowest point that Melromarc suffered its first set back. An enraged Raphtalia did not react as expected. She slapped the Spear Hero hard across the face, making it clear to him (and everyone else) that Naofumi was her saviour and a good person. She also effectively told them that they were the real villains in this piece. Despite being freed she then returned to Naofumi's side and pledged her support to him of her own free will. Ren and Itsuki also called the citizens out on their deception, confirmed that their had been an illegal intervention and brought their subsequent behaviour to the Spear Heroes attention. Caught out and with their schemes foiled, the two royals and the observing citizens withdrew, their mood soured. Volume 2 The following morning the King once again tried to hinder the Shield Heroes progress by revoking his payment. He also mocked the Shield Heroes uselessness compared to the other heroes, which amused the attendees. However, he was once again called out by Ren and Itsuki, forcing him to eventually give in. It is heavily implied that the events of this duel made the Bow and Sword Hero suspicious about the truth behind Malty's accusations. In the build-up to the third wave, Naofumi helped people during his travel. He made some genuine friends, such as the alchemist and magic shop owner in the capital who were moved by the Shield Hero's heroic actions and disgusted by the incompetence of the Kingdom and the other three heroes. The original accusations did not fade, however, and Naofumi still remained distrustful of the people outside his party. He particularly refused to trust in royalty, even youngsters like Melty. Aware that Aultcray had played a role in framing him, Naofumi refused to try to reconcile with the King or the other heroes to fight against the Waves, unless the King and his eldest daughter were properly punished. Volume 3 At the conclusion of the third wave, the citizens of Melromarc were left in a state of confusion. Word quickly spread that the Shield Hero had single-handedly managed to protect the citizens of the affected region Melromarc. Not only that but he defeated the boss of the wave single-handed. When an unexpected opponent showed up (Glass), the other heroes who had dallied when facing the soul-eater, were easily defeated. Although the Shield Hero was also forced to retreat he had held his own and retreated in a very dignified manner. In light of this and the Shield Heroes previously heroic actions, people across the nations began to doubt the accuracy of the Churches teachings and the original accusations. King Aultcray and the aristocracy, however, were left unmoved. Still opposed to the Shield Hero, the King summoned Naofumi in the immediate aftermath, only for a conflict to break out between them. When the King tried to threaten the Shield Hero, Naofumi made it clear that he no longer viewed the King or his subjects as a threat anymore. He would continue to aid them for as long as necessary, but from this point onwards wanted nothing to do with the villains in the Melromarc Court. Shortly after this meeting, the Shield Hero was framed by the followers from the Church of the Three Heroes for abducting Princess Melty. Forced to go on the run again, Naofumi and his party had to contend with the other heroes, Melromarcs militia and nobility all of whom believed the accusations. Throughout the ordeal, Naofumi did his best to keep Melty safe. Volume 4 The chaos would only end following a climactic battle with the Pope and zealous followers of the Church, who betrayed the heroes, citizens of Melromarc and the world at large. Forced to form a begrudging alliance with the three other Heroes, Naofumi eventually managed to kill the Pope, whose forces were then arrested by Queen Mirellia who after months of absence, finally returned to her nation. Once Naofumi's wounds were healed sufficiently, the Queen brought him to the Capital. Upon entering the throne room, Queen Mirellia set about righting the many wrongs that Naofumi had suffered. Enraged at her husband and eldest daughters actions, she froze the former to his throne and had the latter brought forward in chains. After revealing the treachery of the Church of the Three Heroes Church to the nation, Mirellia told everybody present that the other nations were aware of Aultcray's actions against Naofumi. This, coupled with his original summoning of the four heroes had almost resulted in a war that Melromarc would have surely lost. When the matter inevitably turned back to the original accusations, The Queen had her eldest daughter branded with a very powerful slave curse. Setting it to torture Malty every time she lied the Queen extracted a public confession from her. First, she forced Malty to admit that she had taken advantage of the Church of the Three Heroes actions to try and kill her sister Melty. When that was over, Mirellia, ordered her daughter to tell the truth about what really happened at the start of her adventure with Naofumi. Malty tried to deny it for some time, resulting in severe pain. Eventually, however, she gave in, admitting that she had lied about everything and stolen Naofumi's armour, money and equipment as he'd originally claimed. Thus at long last, the citizens of Melromarc, together with the other heroes discovered that Aultcray and Malty had lied to them all along about Naofumi. The Queen's actions left no room for doubt. With Malty's public confession, they were forced to realise that for the last three months they had persecuted, insulted and needlessly harassed an innocent man. The Queen sent word of the Shield Heroes innocence throughout the nation. With Naofumi's innocence no longer left in any doubt, Queen Mirellia punished all those involved and began to set Melromarc on the right track: - *Due to their actions, King Aultcray and Princess Malty were stripped of their royal identity and titles indefinitely. She also allowed Naofumi to inflict further punishment upon them. He originally wanted them killed but eventually settled for renaming them Trash and Bitch respectively. * The Church of the Three Heroes was permanently outlawed and replaced with the Religion of Four Saint Faith. *Behind the scenes, the Queens Shadows investigated the aristocracy. Any that were found to be compliant in Aultcray's and Malty's schemes were either excluded from political affairs or likewise stripped of their nobility. After this, the tension between Naofumi and Melromarc came to an end. The Shield Heroes reputation was restored, and he was able to begin his adventure in earnest. Despite this, Naofumi remained somewhat distrustful and cynical, unable to forget or forgive how quickly the people of Melromarc turned upon him. Following the events of the Spirit Tortoise, Naofumi would be praised by the citizens across the world (including Melromarc) as their only legitimate hero. Inhabitants Royalty *Queen Mirellia Q Melromarc (deceased) *King Aultcray Melromarc XXXII (revoked) *Malty S Melromarc (revoked) *Melty Q Melromarc Aristocrats *Van Reichnott *Idol Rabier (deceased) *Earl of Habenburg Church & Military *Church of the Three Heroes (disbanded) **The Pope (deceased) *Shadows *Knights **Eclair Seaetto **Aken Gallery Melromarc logo2.jpg MELROMARC_FLAG.png|in anime Trivia *Melromarc has the tradition of having the husband's name decided by the wife. Navigation Category:Organizations Category:Anime Villains Category:Internet Villains Category:Book Villains Category:Redeemed Category:Master of Hero Category:Slaver Category:Corrupt Officials Category:Lawful Evil Category:Monarchs Category:On & Off Category:Fanatics Category:Xenophobes Category:Incriminators Category:Manga Villains Category:Alternate Reality Villains Category:Evil Vs. 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